Wondering how critical using radiometric IR images versus non-radiometric is as far as (a) identifying heat leaks and water infiltration in roofs, and (b) creating orthomosaics in DD?

My understanding is as far as identifying issues you’re looking for relative temperature anamolies so radiometric is not required. However in applications where identifying the actual temperature, maybe on power utility inspection, etc, that radiometric images are more critical. But I could be wrong?

Maybe more importantly though is there a significant difference in how difficult it is for DD to create an orthomosaic? It would seem to me no since they can still be stitched on their RGB content, no?

I’m not too familiar with the technical applications of thermal imaging but I do know that thermal mapping with the Zenmuse XT is in beta testing. It is still considered an experimental technology, meaning there are many known issues that may prevent you from getting a fully stitched thermal map. That being said, we cannot guarantee that your map will produce usable maps in DroneDeploy. If you want to continue testing our thermal capabilities, here are the settings that we have found in our testing to maximize chances of success:

Altitude: 140-180ft.

Overlap: 80/80

Filter: Fusion or black and white

Sensor: 640 x 512

Test pilot notes:
Generally, you want to fly slower and gain as much resolution as possible but this can be very difficult given the area of interest being flown. You should experiment with multiple data sets when first starting out to see what is going to work best for you and the camera you are using. Flying manually has always worked better for our test engineer, but DroneDeploy was only able to stitch thermal imagery if the manual dataset was perfect.